Single bottle (bottled in 2008) poured into a large fluted pilsner glass. Poured carefully to leave the sediment in as recommended on the bottle.

Appearance: Hazy coppery color, with a persistent light tan head. Not a lot of persistent lacing as I drank it down, but the 1/8" thick foam across the top stayed the whole way down.

Smell: Incredibly complex. Starts off fruity (grapes, apples, pears), with some bready and boozy smells in there. Once warmed to room temp it is white grapes with some must.

Taste: Equally complex as the smell. Sweet (but not overpowering) with lots of fruit flavors, maybe some molasses, some alcohol, some bitter, and a tart/hint of sour finish. I want to say raspberry at the end. There are so many flavors in here it's hard to pick them out. It's almost (almost) cider-like in its qualities.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation goes away quickly (within 10 minutes) off the bottom of the glass. What is left is a tiny bit prickly on the tongue, but otherwise thick, a hint sticky, and maybe a hint oily too. It lingers in the mouth.

Drinkability: I view this as an experience beer. I'm glad I tried it, but either I have to develop a better palate, or this beer just has way too much going on for me to appreciate all of its nuances. It's good, it went well with a meal (Quiche Lorraine and salad) and I'm glad I tried it, but it will be awhile before I try this again. It's certainly like no beer I've had before.

A heavy pour helps form a massive head of thick off white, almost yellow tinged head. Body is a dense brown in color.

Aroma is quite intense with strong suggestions of fig, toffee, oak, and something similar to fresh baked sugar cookies. Flirts with being too sweet actually but manages to stop just short. Really quite something.

Not nearly as intense on the palate as on aroma. Flavor comes through in stages, carmel, raisins, and wood are there along with with an herbal leafy hop character. Also some plums and port wine in the finish. Actually much easier drinking when warm.

Carbonation is light which I think works well here. Alcohol is noticeable only in the port wine flavor in the aftertaste.

A solid beer but doesn't taste quite as good as the aroma had me hoping, also somewhat overpriced. Aside from that, it's certainly worth a try.

Comment: I consider "The Yorkshire Stingo" as a historical brewing artifact. This is what I believe a quality English brown ale was like 250 years ago, and drinking this is like a trip back in time. The methods, materials, ingredients are essentially a replica from that period, and the necessary economy then would call for the long-term reuse of expensive oak casks. These old barrels imparted a unique character, and I believe it to be shown skillfully in this brew. Good stuff!

Pours a light copper color with a large off white head with large bubbles and good retention. As is almost always the case with Samuel Smith beers, this one is beautiful when poured into a glass. Smells of sweet caramel malt, toffee, dark fruit, oak, and alcohol. The taste is just like the aroma, except not as sweet as I expected. The caramel and toffee flavors are the stars here.

Has a sweet, sticky aftertaste, medium bodied, and properly carbonated. This is smooth, creamy, and easy to drink, even though the alcohol is somewhat noticeable.A good beer, but a bit pricy for what it is.

It pours a cloudy maybe murky medium brown colour with a small head of foam that shrinks quickly leaving a ring around the glass and some spotty islands in the middle.

The smell is fairly light but with very good caramel malt notes and maybe some hints of vanilla.

The taste is delightfully malty. Lots of caramel malt sweetness and a brown sugar like sweetness with some notes of vanilla hanging around in the background as well as a light touch of oak/wood. Little bitterness to be found and not needed at all but what's there tastes like light bits of dark chocolate. Nice. And tasty.

Mostly medium bodied but at times feels like right on the edge of full bodied. The carbonation is on the light side and works well with this one and most examples of the style.

Drinkability? Some warming ensues after the first few sips, most welcome with the temps outside being in the single digits, but other than that, it is hidden pretty well. I like it a lot and if you like malt forward brews as much as I do, you will favour this one. A firm thumbs up from me.

A: nice lighter copper color, the creamy, lasting head is what impressed me more than anythingS: very mild and well-balanced, hints of vanilla, toffee, very, very goodT: again, very well-balanced, great taste between malt and oak aged qualities, probably one of the smoothest oak-aged beers I've ever had, mellow and warming, warming alcohol taste in finishM: great mouthfeel, rounded, velvety smoothD: deceptively drinkable for a 8.1% beer

A muddy golden ruby color with a lasting two finger light tan head , some spotty lacong left behind , light to medium carbonation . Aroma of apple skins , raisons, sweet toffee malt , oak , burbon and a hint of horse blanket . Flavor is malty with a light anount of funk , yeasty , bready with a little more of the burbon type note coming through , rasins and at times hints of apple. Fairly bitter , malty , medium body with a slick mouthfeel , and a spicy hop finish . This was a strange brew for sure but the more of it I drank the more I liked it , not sure I would call it sessionable , but quite interesting .

Quite an impressive, almost Belgique head on this tea-colored strong ale. The nose is full and buttery, drenched with caramel, rum, pastry, and toffee. A touch of floral hops and fruity esters lend the softness of apricots, muscat, honey, and wisteria to an otherwise hard ale.

Powerful and rich, thick with raisins, honey, caramel, and sweet wine. Nicely oaked, quite buttery and even a bit coconutty. Complex and quite dense, balanced with a bit of whiskey heat and a lemony hop bitterness in the background. A lovely after-dinner brew. Thanks to Kris at Kris Wines for the bottle.

Reviewed on 09/07/2009. Bottle. Pours a clear burnt amber with a thick off-white head. Aroma of oak and lots of sour notes (acidic) and molasses. Flavor is less sour, more sweet and sticky with molasses, caramel, brown sugar, and sweet, sticky fruits (sour apple in particular). Not what I expected from this beer (the sourness) but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

Smell: A nose of caramel-coated, toasted biscuit tops provide a nice sweet-smelling scent accented by notes of dried fruits and spicy English hops.

Taste: Begins with a taste of sweet, luscious caramel with a deep, dark sugary tone to it along with some lightly toasty biscuit hints and a notable fruitiness coming across as raisins and dehydrated apricots ready for the trail mix bag. Mild spiciness and bitterness from the English hops. Only a minor perceived woody character seems to have been imparted by the oak staves. A bit mineral-laden on the back half. There's a little leftover malt sweetness on the otherwise lightly spicy finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Just a skosh above medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Not bad! It's quite good, in fact, though, at the price tag of around eleven bucks per bottle (the real source of the sting-o), I don't see myself returning to it anytime soon.

The beer pours a cloudy reddish brown color with a thick frothy off-white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a warm, burnt toffee scent along with slightly fruity English yeast aroma. The taste is great! It has an incredibly malty flavor that screams burnt toffee and and oak aging. The oak compliments the warm malty flavor and adds a level of complexity in the finish. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is wonderful beer. I'm a big fan of English strong ales and barleywines. The oak aging is a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Pours a three finger light cream head that fades slowly to a thin layer leaving some lace. Cloudy amber/brown amber color, some floaties. Good carbonation and medium bodied. Honey nose. Flavor is a mellow honey with a hop backbone. Pricey at $11.54 for a 550ml bottle from Glen Beverage Glen, NH.

Pours a clear dark coppery amber with a fairly thick white head. Aroma is strong, yeasty and fruity - mainly pear and banana - with just a hint of malt. Mouth-filling sassy flavor is malty and yeasty with a slightly bitter hoppy undertone and hints of banana, caramel and molasses. Texture is fairly rough and fizzy, and it leaves a somewhat bitter but not nasty aftertaste. Worth a try.

Pours a hazy, reddish orange with a short, creamy, white head that has an tinge of orange. No lacing but there is steady, light carbonation.Smells of oak, orange peel, buttery toffee and sweet malt.Taste starts off with the buttery toffee flavor as in the aroma followed by a malt sweetness and finishing up with an oak flavor and a light bitterness.Mouthfeel is very nice. It's medium to thick, a bit chewy, pretty dry with a continued, light carbonation.Drinkability is OK to good. ABV is moderately high enough that I started to feel it at the end.

This is an interesting beer that was somewhat enjoyable though I don't think this is a style I would often choose. It fits a lot of the style components pretty well but seems to lack in the boldness of aroma & flavor.

A: Poured a cross between dark cherry/raspberry with a firm smooth 1 finger beige colored head that displayed moderately good retention with light raspberry hues. The lacing was clean while the visible effervesce appeared rapid and strong.

S: The nose was light with watery whiskey scents being the most pronounced against a stale malt backing. The barrel aging is noticeable here with light oaky cask notes of alcohol soaked wood, and a light sour malting. Honestly have to say wasn't to impressed here, maybe a bit of aging would of made this a bit more rounded, but as is was average at best.

T: The initial flavor opens with a tart, sourness of stale grains and a semi-tart raspberry fruitiness. A dry alcohol touch of water and whiskey provides an alcohol spicing that gets progressively warmer and more noticeable as you proceed. Warm apple cider and toasted sweet grains with dried honey bread are also evident while the alcohol stays with you to the very end, spicy in nature with a dried warm fruitiness of cooked pineapple. The warming sensation of the drink certainly takes over with noticeably boozy cask notes while the complexity lagged behind. Decent, but nothing that would make me go wow or rush out and buy again, honestly Sam Adams had a longshot version of an old ale I thought was heads and tails above this and much better priced. Yorkshire stingo comes in at $12 a pint, which in no way influenced my perception of the drink, but may for the casual drinker who gets sticker shock.

M: syrupy slick with a medium consistency. A boozy warming sensation of alcohol spicing linger on well after the swallow.

D: I rated drinkability was average, a bit boozy with a limited complexity and particularly didnt make my tongue dance with excitement. Didn't go down as easy as old ale should at 8.0%. I might be in the minority here but this was a bit of a disappointment.

While technically not a barleywine, we cracked this open at our barleywine tasting. Big thanks to Eric for bringing over a bottle I've been after for quite some time.

Pours a rich russet with a thin tan head that dropped to a collar in a hurry. Interesting aroma, with nuts, earth, Christmas pudding and grapefruit. Flavour is bizarre, somewhat leathery with a cereal emphasis overlaying the notes that I'd expect to find in there. Some nut, earth and tree fruit. Mild bitterness, and a slight sharpness.

I don't think the bottle is bad, but this isn't my cup of tea. Its an interesting challenging beer, but not up to Sam Smith's usual standards.

Caramel and breadiness are met by a similar fresh green apples note - odd. Not very sweet, almost on the drying end of things, slightly tart, faint earthiness. Light body. Certainly a drinkable beer though an odd one to pin down.